Visitor Arrivals Great News For Tourism

“The latest International Visitor Arrival figures released today confirms what tourism operators throughout the country have been saying,” Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIANZ) Chief Executive John Moriarty said today.

The Statistics New Zealand figures showed that there was an extra 7,000 international visitors to New Zealand during January 2002, an increase of 4 per cent compared to the same month last year. Visitors from the United States in January 2002 increased by 38 per cent.

“Tourism operators had been confident that that the number of short-term overseas visitor arrivals for January 2002 would be positive. However, such a large increase in US visitors wasn’t expected and this will provide an even bigger boost for the industry, especially given their high spend.”

Mr Moriarty also highlighted the value of cruise ships to New Zealand.

“The figures show that cruise ship passenger arrivals contributed strongly to the increase in overall visitor numbers.”

“We are mindful however, that the Asian markets are still quite weak, particularly the cautious Japanese market. This means those operators solely focussing on these markets will face challenging conditions for the foreseeable future.”

“All that said and done it’s a great start to the year!”

ENDS

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